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SkillsCornell Certificate Program

Ariel Avgar is an Associate Professor at the ILR School at Cornell University and Associate Director for Research and Student Engagement with the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution. His research focuses on two primary areas within employment relations. First, he explores the role that employment relations factors play in the healthcare industry. As such, he examines the effects of a variety of workplace innovations, including new technology, delivery of care models, and innovative work practices, on patients, frontline employees, and organizational performance. Second, he studies conflict and its management in organizations with a focus on the strategic choices made by firms. He seeks to better understand the consequences of conflict for employees and employers. In addition, his research investigates the adoption and implementation of organizational level conflict management practices and systems. His research has been published in a number of journals including: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, International Journal of Conflict Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Negotiation and Conflict Management Review, Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Health Services Research and Medical Care. He received the 2008 Best Dissertation Award and the 2013 John T. Dunlop Scholar Award, both from the Labor and Employment Relations Association and serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the association. His paper (with Eric J. Neuman) titled “Blind spots and mirages: A dyadic approach to the study of team conflict” received the 2012 Best Paper: New Directions Award from the Academy of Management Conflict Management Division. He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the ILR School at Cornell University and a B.A. in Sociology and an LL.B in Law from Hebrew University. He served as Law Clerk for the President of the Israeli National Labor Court before being admitted into the Israeli Bar. Prior to joining ILR, he was an associate professor (2014-2016) and assistant professor (2008-2014) at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Nick Fabrizio’s expertise spans both the public and private sectors. He advises companies, government agencies, and prominent healthcare institutions on a variety of issues, including strategic decisions, public policy, mergers and acquisitions, turnaround/crisis management, and integrating technology.

Professor Fabrizio is a frequent presenter at state and national conferences and has published over 25 journal articles on corporate governance, strategy, and organizational change. He has also published book chapters and two books, and he is a regular contributor to news and media outlets on healthcare trends and current events.

Professor Fabrizio is the Capstone Director for both the MHA and EMHA programs. In addition to teaching in the Sloan Program, he developed the Healthcare Change Management Certificate Program for eCornell and designs custom programs for eCornell.

Professor Fabrizio received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Cortland, his M.A. from Binghamton University, and his Ph.D. from Walden University.

Deirdre Gobeille Snyder is a Lecturer in Management Communication at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in business writing, persuasive communications, interpersonal influence, and management presentations. 

Prior to joining Cornell, Dr. Snyder was an Associate Professor at Providence College, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in organizational behavior, negotiations, leading and managing, decision making, and human resources. She has spent more than 10 years teaching negotiations and leadership courses in the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s top-rated online MBA program, MBA@UNC. Dr. Snyder has developed and delivered executive education workshops on power and politics, negotiations, giving and receiving feedback, change management, decision making and biases, interpersonal influence, and conflict management.

Dr. Snyder studies the impact of loneliness and belonging at work, team accountability, and employee retention. Her work has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resources Management, and the Journal of Business Ethics, and featured at the Academy of Management annual meetings. 

Dr. Snyder holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a Master’s of International Business from the University of South Carolina, where she focused on marketing and Spanish. Before obtaining her Ph.D., she spent 15 years working in corporate communications for a variety of organizations, including Cengage Publishing and CNN Latin America. Dr. Snyder has lived and worked in Spain, Mexico, and Argentina, and speaks conversational Spanish.